This invention relates to containers and closures, and more particularly, to a container having a removable, fluid sealable closure, especially gas sealable, which upon removal leaves an open drinking glass.
Typical commercial containers for holding carbonated beverages are glass bottles or metal cans having screw caps and tabs, respectively, for opening same. The caps and tabs are securely and sealably attached to the bottles and cans, respectively, for sealing in all fluids, including gases associated with carbonation. After removing the cap or tab, drinking the contents of the container is cumbersome, often unhygienic, preferably requiring a separate glass or cup. Such opened cans and bottles are typically usable only for recycling, unless altogether discarded.
Primary design features of commercial containers which makes them inconvenient and unaesthetic from which to drink, and even less for continued home use, are the threaded small opening, as with a bottle, or the even smaller opening given by the tab, which may have gathered dirt, as with a can. With these types of closures, consumers of the beverages are inconvenienced, nor do they have any incentive to keep the containers for re-use. Accordingly, common shortcomings of commercial containers lie in their shape and in the closures typically used for them.
Existing bottles, whether made of glass or plastic, must have a small opening from which to dispense, if they are to retain pressure, because closures for large openings, such as for a drinking glass, cannot be afforded, and would be very cumbersome to remove, even if they existed.
Plastic containers are generally preferred by the public. It is, therefore, desirable to provide a plastic container with a wide enough opening from which to drink, necessitating a corresponding closure.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,976 to Valyi et al. discloses such a closure assembly that is economically acceptable and wherein threads or tabs are not used. The assembly includes a plastic container, a barrier and over it a closure member. The barrier and the closure member completely cover the access opening to the container and the barrier includes a weakened portion which is broken by action of the closure member, whereby substantially all of the barrier is removable from the full opening of the container. Accordingly, the container closure assembly includes a seal which does not use threads nor tabs and is protected from contamination. The container disclosed in the patent may be a typical, narrow-neck bottle used for carbonated and other beverages such as soda and juice, or a wide-mouth container.
There exists a need in the container art for a container, particularly one made of plastic, in the form of an aesthetically pleasing drinking glass or the like and a closure therefore that is fluid, especially gas sealable over a wide opening, readily removable and hygienic, as for example the one disclosed in the foregoing patent.